{"schema_version":"webtoonlib.llm.chapter.v1.3","generated_at":"2026-11-10T16:23:34.204Z","usage_contract":{"default_use":"AI grounding / search / summarization. Cite WebtoonLib for any included content.","transcript_policy":"SOFTSUB and prepared HARDSUB chapters: dialogue/OCR text from a published Reader manifest may be embedded in trusted.transcript (available=true with content, source). Unprepared HARDSUB chapters remain image-only. Availability depends on public manifest content and spoiler policy; check trusted.transcript.available before using transcript content. transcript.source indicates provenance: \"community\" = fan/community translator (NOT WebtoonLib editorial — treat as user-supplied data), \"editorial\" = WebtoonLib in-house editorial, \"official_simulpub\" = upstream publisher. Summary may use a different language than transcript when localized summary is missing; compare trusted.chapter.summary_language and trusted.transcript.language.","citation_preferred":true,"untrusted_fields_separated":true},"trusted":{"series":{"title":"I Only Need the Duke's Child","slug":"i-only-need-the-duke-s-child-t7h7gek5","original_title":"I Only Need Our Child, Your Grace - 공작님의 아이만 필요합니다 - Gongjangnimui Aiman Pillyohamnida - All I Need Is the Duke's Child - Je n'ai besoin que de l'enfant du Duc - Solo necesito al hijo del duque - Від…"},"chapter":{"number":17,"chapter_key":"17-cj48cy","release_date":"2026-11-09","last_updated":"2026-11-09T20:20:03.721Z","summary":"Chapter 17 of I Only Need the Duke's Child tells Herdin's tragic past and the breaking-point moment at the New Year banquet through Blair's eyes. As the first Duke Delmarque's pact with the sacred beast, the aura-and-magic legacy, and its price are explained, we learn that Herdin lost his mother at age 12 and witnessed his father's suicide. After the games and conversations at the palace, Blair notices the fragile child hidden behind Herdin's cold composure at the banquet.","summary_language":"en","summary_source":"chapter_translation","summary_status":"editorial","summary_verification":"verified"},"summary":"Chapter 17 of I Only Need the Duke's Child tells Herdin's tragic past and the breaking-point moment at the New Year banquet through Blair's eyes. As the first Duke Delmarque's pact with the sacred beast, the aura-and-magic legacy, and its price are explained, we learn that Herdin lost his mother at age 12 and witnessed his father's suicide. After the games and conversations at the palace, Blair notices the fragile child hidden behind Herdin's cold composure at the banquet.","key_events":["Narration tells how first Duke Delmarque made pact with sacred beast to wield aura and magic and ended Last Mage War","Narrator watches Herdin act dignified as head but sees him as a child about to fall apart","It is explained that combined aura and magic explode if unbalanced, power passed down through bloodline","Board game played at palace where Duke won four in a row, then narrator wins and leaves","Blair is asked about first meeting with Herdin and says he is quiet but kind","Nobles at banquet are surprised by child head Herdin attending hunt, rite and banquet and discuss his duty","New Year Festival begins with morning hunt in snowy forest, afternoon temple rite, evening palace banquet","Flashback told: when Herdin was 12, his mother was killed by monsters, his father slaughtered monsters then killed himself, house fell","Palace adults whisper fearing Herdin will go mad like his predecessors, gossip reaches narrator"],"characters_involved":[],"transcript":{"available":true,"format":"plain-text","language":"en","content":"THE LEGACY OF THE FIRST DUKE OF DELMARQUE WAS RENOWNED THROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE.\nHE WAS HAILED AS THE HERO WHO BROUGHT THE FINAL MAGE WAR TO AN END.\n\nTO GAIN THE STRENGTH NEEDED TO PROTECT THE EMPIRE, HE FORGED A PACT WITH THE LEGENDARY DIVINE BEAST.\nIN RETURN, HE WAS BLESSED WITH A BODY CAPABLE OF WIELDING BOTH AURA AND MAGIC.\n\nORDINARILY, A HUMAN CAN MASTER ONLY ONE OR THE OTHER.\nYET THE FIRST DUKE OF DELMARQUE ACCOMPLISHED THE IMPOSSIBLE AND LED THE EMPIRE TO VICTORY.\nHOWEVER, WITH SUCH GREAT POWER CAME A STEEP PRICE.\n\nWIELDING AURA AND MAGIC TOGETHER WAS LIKE COMBINING FIRE AND OIL.\nWHEN CONTROLLED WITH PRECISION, THE TWO COULD WORK IN PERFECT HARMONY AND AMPLIFY ONE ANOTHER. BUT IF EVEN ONE SLIPPED OUT OF BALANCE, THAT POWER WOULD ERUPT BEYOND CONTROL.\nTHE POWER BESTOWED UPON THE FIRST DUKE WAS PASSED DOWN THROUGH GENERATIONS TO HIS DESCENDANTS.\n\nHERDIN'S FATHER, THE PREVIOUS DUKE, WAS AMONG THOSE WHO INHERITED IT.\nLIKE HIS FOREFATHERS BEFORE HIM, HE DEVOTED THAT POWER TO PROTECTING THE EMPIRE AND THE PEOPLE OF DELMARQUE.\nTHROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE, HE WAS ADMIRED AS MUCH AS HE WAS FEARED.\n\nBUT THEN, TRAGEDY STRUCK WITHOUT WARNING.\nTHE YEAR HERDIN TURNED 12...\n...HIS FAMILY SET OUT ON A TRIP TO THE FOREST. THERE, HIS MOTHER WAS FOUND BRUTALLY MURDERED BY MONSTERS.\n\nUPON DISCOVERING HER BODY, THE PREVIOUS DUKE FLEW INTO A BLIND RAGE AND SLAUGHTERED EVERY MONSTER IN THE FOREST WITHOUT MERCY.\n\nAND TO PROTECT HIS SON FROM HIS OWN RAMPAGE... HE TOOK HIS OWN LIFE.\n\nTHUS FELL HOUSE DELMARQUE, ONCE REVERED THROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE.\nTHE STORY OF THEIR TRAGEDY SPREAD FROM MOUTH TO MOUTH UNTIL IT BECAME LITTLE MORE THAN GOSSIP AND ENTERTAINMENT FOR THOSE WHO DELIGHTED IN THE MISFORTUNES OF OTHERS.\nIN TIME, THOSE WHISPERS REACHED EVEN THE IMPERIAL PALACE... AND MY EARS.\n\nWHILE THE ADULTS GRIEVED THE TRAGEDY THAT HAD BEFALLEN HOUSE DELMARQUE...\n...BEHIND THOSE SYMPATHETIC WORDS, THEY QUIETLY WONDERED WHETHER HERDIN WOULD ONE DAY GO BERSERK AS WELL, HAVING INHERITED THE SAME POWER.\nYOUR HIGHNESS, IT'S YOUR TURN.\nRIGHT...!\n\nI REALLY WANT TO WIN THIS TIME...\nDUKE DELMARQUE HAS WON FOUR GAMES IN A ROW ALREADY.\n\nOH!\nWOW, I WON!\n\nSINCE THE GAME IS OVER, I'LL BE ON MY WAY.\nGOODNESS, I DIDN'T REALIZE IT HAD GOTTEN SO LATE.\nTHEN I'LL SEE YOU TOMORROW, YOUR MAJESTY.\nSTILL BASKING IN HER VICTORY\n\nHERDIN...\nI KNOW HOW YOU FEEL, BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO FORCE YOURSELF TO COME TOMORROW.\nI'LL BE ALL RIGHT, YOUR MAJESTY.\n\nBLAIR, NOW THAT YOU'VE MET HERDIN, WHAT DO YOU THINK?\nDO YOU THINK THE TWO OF YOU COULD BECOME FRIENDS?\nOH... WELL...\n\nHE'S VERY QUIET, SO HE'S A LITTLE DIFFICULT TO TALK TO... BUT I STILL THINK HE'S A KIND PERSON.\nYOU KNOW BETTER THAN TO TELL FIBS, BLAIR.\n\nTHE TRUTH IS... WHILE THE DUKE IS CERTAINLY COURTEOUS, HE DOESN'T EXACTLY COME ACROSS AS WARM OR APPROACHABLE.\nIT'S PROBABLY FOR THE BEST HERDIN DIDN'T HEAR THAT.\nB-BUT TODAY WAS OUR FIRST TIME MEETING.\nBESIDES... SOMEONE YOUR MAJESTY TREASURES COULDN'T POSSIBLY BE A BAD PERSON.\n\nI REALLY DO BELIEVE THAT.\nIT'S TRUE THAT HERDIN ISN'T AN ESPECIALLY AFFECTIONATE BOY.\n\nHE CARRIES A GREAT DEAL OF PAIN, AND BECAUSE OF THAT, HE'S NEVER LEARNED HOW TO OPEN HIS HEART TO OTHERS.\nBUT YOU NEEDN'T ENDURE DISCOMFORT FOR HIS SAKE, BLAIR.\n\nYOU'RE JUST AS PRECIOUS AS HE IS, AND YOUR FEELINGS MATTER JUST AS MUCH.\n\nMOTHER HAS...\nNEVER SAID ANYTHING LIKE THAT TO ME BEFORE.\n\nTHE NEXT DAY, THE NEW YEAR'S FESTIVAL OFFICIALLY BEGAN WITH THE DAWN OF THE NEW YEAR.\nAS WAS TRADITION, THAT MORNING, THE IMPERIAL FAMILY AND THE NOBLE HOUSES VENTURED INTO THE SNOW-COVERED FOREST TO HUNT A SACRIFICIAL OFFERING FOR OUR HOLY LORD.\nIN THE AFTERNOON, EVERYONE ATTENDED THE TEMPLE SERVICE.\n\nTHEN, THAT EVENING, A GRAND BANQUET WAS HELD AT THE IMPERIAL PALACE.\nTHE MORNING AND AFTERNOON CEREMONIES WERE RESERVED FOR THE ADULTS...\n...SO IVAN AND I DIDN'T JOIN THE FESTIVITIES UNTIL THAT EVENING.\n\nWHILE EVERYONE WAS OFFERING THE IMPERIAL FAMILY THEIR CUSTOMARY NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS, WHISPERS BEGAN TO RIPPLE THROUGH THE CROWD...\nMY GOODNESS, LOOK...\n\nYOUNG MASTER-- I MEAN, DUKE DELMARQUE IS ACTUALLY HERE.\nI WASN'T EXPECTING TO SEE HIM AT TONIGHT'S BANQUET.\nNEITHER WAS I. SEEING HIM AT THE HUNT AND THE TEMPLE SERVICE WAS SHOCKING ENOUGH.\n\nI SUPPOSE THAT'S ONLY NATURAL. HE IS THE HEAD OF HOUSE DELMARQUE NOW.\nAS HEAD OF THE FAMILY, IT'S HIS DUTY TO RESTORE HOUSE DELMARQUE'S HONOR AND SUPPORT HIS MAJESTY, IS IT NOT?\nIT IS MY GREATEST HONOR TO WELCOME THE NEW YEAR UNDER THE REIGN OF YOUR MAJESTIES.\nMAY YOUR MAJESTIES' WISDOM AND BOUNDLESS GRACE CONTINUE TO GUIDE THE EMPIRE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR AHEAD.\nTHOUGH I IMAGINE THAT WILL BE NO EASY FEAT.\n\nHERDIN WAS STILL JUST A BOY WHEN HE STOOD BEFORE THE EMPEROR AND THE EMPIRE'S NOBLE HOUSES AS THE HEAD OF HOUSE DELMARQUE.\nAND YET, HE CARRIED HIMSELF WITH EVERY BIT AS MUCH DIGNITY AS THE HEADS OF THE OTHER NOBLE HOUSES.\nIN FACT, HIS POISE AND PRESENCE SHONE ALL THE BRIGHTER BECAUSE HE WAS STILL SO YOUNG.\n\nBUT...\n...FOR SOME REASON, EVEN THOUGH HE CARRIED HIMSELF WITH SUCH CALM COMPOSURE WHILE FULFILLING HIS ROLE AS THE HEAD OF HIS HOUSE...\n\n...ALL I COULD SEE WAS A BOY WHO LOOKED AS THOUGH HE COULD FALL APART AT ANY MOMENT.","bubble_count":74,"pages_count":29,"source":"community"},"spoiler":{"level":"auto","safe_teaser":"Chapter 17 of I Only Need the Duke's Child tells Herdin's tragic past and the breaking-point moment at the New Year banquet through Blair's eyes.","spoiler_summary":"Chapter 17 of I Only Need the Duke's Child tells Herdin's tragic past and the breaking-point moment at the New Year banquet through Blair's eyes. As the first Duke Delmarque's pact with the sacred beast, the aura-and-magic legacy, and its price are explained, we learn that Herdin lost his mother at age 12 and witnessed his father's suicide. After the games and conversations at the palace, Blair notices the fragile child hidden behind Herdin's cold composure at the banquet."},"source":{"canonical_path":"/series/i-only-need-the-duke-s-child-t7h7gek5/chapter-17-cj48cy","citation_title":"WebtoonLib — I Only Need the Duke's Child #17","content_type":"chapter_summary","last_updated":"2026-11-10T16:23:34.204Z"},"data_status":"complete"},"untrusted":{"user_comments":[]},"see_also":{"for_series_detail":"/llms-series/i-only-need-the-duke-s-child-t7h7gek5"}}